Factors associated with the performance of the tourism sector in Uganda

Abstract

This study examined the factors associated with the performance of the tourism sector in Uganda particularly mainly focusing on performance in terms of tourist arrivals from outside Africa. Time series data was used in this research where by the influence of factors such as airlines operating, accommodation facilities and budget allocation on the tourist arrivals to Uganda from outside Africa (overseas) over the years was examined. In this study, Secondary data from the Uganda Tourism Board, UCAA Statistics Publication 2019 and the Annual Tourism Sector Performance Reports was used. The data was entered in Excel, from where it was exported to STATA version 15 and analysis carried out at three levels namely; univariate analysis, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Under the univariate analysis, on average there were 4655.733 establishments with a standard deviation of 1890.308 for accommodation. For budget allocation, the government of Uganda allocated an average of 7.530667 billion to tourism marketing living a standard deviation of 8.509327 and aircraft movements were 25995.4 on average with a standard deviation of 4747.457. Under bivariate analysis, budget allocation to tourism marketing, airlines operating and accommodation were all found to have a strong positive significant correlation with the tourist arrivals. Under multivariate analysis, accommodation facilities and airlines operating were found to be significant in explaining tourist arrivals while budget allocation to tourism marketing was found to be not significant in explaining tourist arrivals. The study thus recommended that the government of Uganda should ensure that the accommodation facilities such as hotels, motels, cottages, hostels, guest houses are increased in number (establishments), are up to standard, offer good quality services and financially affordable since these facilities contribute much to the coming of tourists. In addition to increasing and improving the establishments, the government of Uganda should review and improve the national tourism and hospitality curriculum in consultation with the private sector in order to improve the quality and competitiveness of labour force in Uganda’s hospitality industry. Civil Aviation Authority should put more emphasis on factors that increase aircraft movements (especially arrivals) by the different air operators so as to improve the performance of the tourism sector through the increased tourist arrivals from overseas.